Research

Secondary Research

I researched into iconic individuals that have had to make life-changing, and possibly life threatening decisions in order to save another individual or group of people. The decisions that they made most definitely influenced their lives in one way or another, and below are some examples;

Malala Yousafzi

At the young age of 16, this Pakistani girl risked her life as she held protest and went to school to further her education that was already of a limited availability. This, however, resulted in her getting shot in the head by a Taliban bullet. She wanted to stand up for women's rights and protest against the already existing strain that is on the Pakistani woman's community. "The worst period came at the end of 2008, when the local Taliban leader, Mullah Fuzlullah, issued a dire warning- all female education had to cease within a month, or schools would suffer consequences." Malala made the decision to put her life at risk in order for the rights of her gender, and generation in the culture in which she lived. After making this incredibly brave decision, Malala now lives in Birmingham with her family, goes to school, and is a leader and socialite for the rights of women and their education; "didn't want my future to be imprisoned in my four walls and just cooking and giving birth."

Aitizaz Hasan

The young Pakistani boy jumped on a bomb in order to save his fellow class mates and teachers. The bomb was set off by a suicide bomber, attempting to murder not only himself, but the students and teachers of a school. If it wasn't for Aitizaz waiting outside as his punishment as a result of being late for school that day, he would of never been in that situation to have to make the decision that he did. To make such a decision at that young of age is an extremely courageous thing to do. "We live in a land where a young child had to give his life fighting a scourge that our own leaders bend over backwards in an attempt to appease."

Emily Davison

This woman was a "militant activist who fought for women's suffrage in Britain." She was a member of the WSPU- Women's Social and Political Union- founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and as a result of her protests and acts of rebellion, she was jailed 9 times. To show her true belief for women's rights, she refused to eat as a sign of anger and protest and so was force-fed a total of 49 times. She wanted to make herself seen further, however, and to do this she committed the act- of which she is most famous for- of jumping in front of the King's Horse at the Epsom Derby; her injuries killing her four days later.

Gareth Thomas
Gareth Thomas is an ex-Lion rugby player and was married to Jemma Thomas for 5 years. This was before he came out and revealed his true sexuality. He tells the story of how "he'd tried to suppress his true sexuality for 20 years." "I became the master of playing the straight bat-... I would always be the one to start a fight." Being a rugby player, meant he felt he needed to hide who he really is and went to extreme measures to do so. "I remember I used to go to the church we were due to get married in and I would sit there in the graveyard and look up to the steeple... clench my hands and close my eyes as tight as I could and pray to be straight." In order to make such a life-changing decision to reveal his true sexuality, Thomas would've had to make many difficult decisions, as he was not only changing and effecting his life, but his wife's and his families.

Also, for my secondary research I was required to research into whether the target audience that I was aiming for, was the same as, or close to, the current target audience for Channel 4 between 7 and 8 pm. After looking at the BARB website, I found that Channel 4 has an average of 1.5 million viewers around those times, on a weekday evening. Here are some of the results, taken straight from the website;

From the above results, you can see that there is a range of viewers dependent on the program, but that they all average around the figures of 1.5 million.

I was also required to find out the target audience for the Channel 4 news. Unlike the BBC News, which targets elder generations, and a more public and broad audience, Channel 4 is more targeted towards people in their 30's and 40's, along with the younger generations, who are of middle class.

Primary Research

For my primary research I conducted an online survey, and got a mix of ages and genders to complete the questionnaire. In total I got 16 responses, and below are the questions I asked and the answers i received for each question.

Question 1

What is your age? ;
48, 20, 48, 17, 20, 20, 20, 20, 25, 19, 21, 48, 21, 18, 18, 17

Question 2
What is your gender? ;
female = 7
male = 9

Question 3
Have you heard of a '3 Minute Wonder'? ;
yes = 6
no = 10

Question 4
What is your favourite documentary? ;
Blue Planet
Mostly things about cars or animals
Living Planet
Louis Theroux
Real life things maybe or supernatural stuff
911 one
Planet Earth - David Attenborough
Supersize vs Superskinny
Planet Earth
24 Hours in A&E
Live in Space
The Incredible Human Journey
Anything relating to historic war
The Obama Deception
Fahrenheit 9/11
Exit Through the Gift Shop 

Question 5

Have you ever had to make a life-changing decision? ;
yes = 13
no = 3

Question 6

If yes, what was this decision? ;
Starting a family
I would say people make life-changing decisions everyday without realising
Vasectomy
To live near home or away
No
Moving cities which meant leaving job and family
Where to move for universtiy
Uni
Switch to a job that might not work out
Taking a gap year
Changing uni/course
Haven't had to make one
Career change and location
Coming to EN
To choose whether to go to uni or not
Haven't had to 

Question 7Would you be interested in watching a documentary about life-changing decisions?
yes = 11
no = 3
maybe = 2

After looking at the range of responses received from conducting this market research, it's clear to see that knowledge of documentaries as a whole is limited, but the respondents did show some degree of curiosity about a documentary on life-changing decisions. 

Reference List
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/09/pakistani-boy-suicide-bomber-hero

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/davison_emily.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24379018

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1338939/Gareth-Thomas-ex-wife-reveals-shes-finally-happiness-year-came-gay.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12117682

http://www.barb.co.uk/